


The Exam

by Multiple_Universes



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dorks in Love, Exams, Fluff, Humor, Irony, Love at First Sight, M/M, Movie AU, One Shot, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 23:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14342925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multiple_Universes/pseuds/Multiple_Universes
Summary: Yuuri Katsuki is desperate to find a copy of the class notes to study for his exam, so desperate, in fact, that he doesn’t realize he’s studying with the love of his life.





	The Exam

The end of the semester came, bringing panic and chaos in its wake.

“Are you ready for the exam?”

“No. Are _you_?”

“Of course not!”

Some had spent the semester drinking, some playing cards, some – dating, and others weren’t really sure where all the time went.

Yuuri Katsuki attended classes. He really did. He just didn’t attend _all_ of them. He attended the first few and then the next two and then there was that sports competition and then work (because he had to get some money somehow) and before he knew it, it was exam week and he barely knew what the courses had even been about!

He couldn’t even remember what his professors looked like!

Phichit, who was always on top everything and knew someone who knew someone (or, as he sometimes put it: “knew a guy who knew a guy”), got a copy of notes for the class and went to do the exam first.

Yuuri ran into him standing in front of two drinks machines, downing glass after glass of carbonated water.

“Did you take the exam already?”

Phichit nodded happily and downed another glass. “Perfect score!”

Yuuri jumped at the stack of Phichit’s books. “Great! Congratulations! Can I borrow your notes?”

Phichit poured himself another glass and nodded at something behind Yuuri. “Already gave it to them. Sorry, Yuuri. You should’ve come to me earlier.”

Yuuri turned in the direction Phichit had indicated and saw the big crowd. It was packed so densely that when he tried to find a gap in it he couldn’t. He tried to slip in to get to the front, but someone pushed him out. He got up on his toes to try to see over everyone’s heads and a tall person moved to stand in his way.

He stepped back and looked up at the tree beside him. Maybe he could climb –

Three students were sitting in the thickest branches, each staring down through a pair of binoculars.

“You can turn the page!” one of them called out and, presumably, the page was turned.

Yuuri sighed and walked away.

He tried the university library next, but all they had was a textbook that was sort of on the subject, kind of. It wasn’t even the textbook assigned to the course. He tried to read it anyway. It was a textbook, right? It had to have what he needed for his exam. Theoretically.

But the book was big, and heavy, and really boring. In short, it was completely impossible to focus for longer than one sentence at a time.

So he kept looking.

What’s that person reading over there?

A romance novel.

What about that?

A newspaper.

He passed a sculpture of a giant man holding a massive book and checked to see what he was reading (just in case it was a copy of the class notes, after all, he reasoned, you never knew your luck). But no, it was just a statue of a book.

He got to his bus stop, still trying to read his textbook, when the book the two people next to him were reading caught his eye.

There it was: a copy of the class notes!

The person next to him snapped at him, but he followed the book onto the bus, remembering only to show his pass to the driver.

He found a seat next to the book and kept reading.

After three pages the bus driver announced a stop.

“That’s us,” the owner of the book said and Yuuri got up to follow it.

 

Unbeknownst to him or the owner of the book, the owner’s friend fell asleep, lulled by the sun shining through the windows and the shaking of the bus.

 

Victor Nikiforov was a good student and, like every good student, had his own copy of the class notes. This didn’t mean that he was ready to take the exam. No, like every other student on campus (or what _felt_ like every other student) he was cramming for exams until the last possible minute.

Four more hours until the exam.

He got together with Chris to study. They started out in Chris’s apartment, sitting around Victor’s class notes, but the neighbours downstairs were so loud that they decided to go to Victor’s apartment instead.

They walked together across the campus, eyes glued to the book.

At the bus stop Chris snapped at someone and Victor knew without looking that Chris’s eyes were no longer on the book.

 _Oh no! Not now! You can flirt later!_ he thought desperately, while still trying to make sense of his notes and what they meant. “Don’t get distracted,” he said softly.

The bus arrived and they all got on.

He’d taken the bus home so many times he could make the entire journey with his eyes closed. When his stop was announced he knew he’d arrived without really thinking about it.

“That’s us,” he said and got up, making his way through the crowded bus to the exit.

Chris followed.

The bus let them off and he walked home.

First they had to cross the street. He started to, realized subconsciously that the light was red, and returned with Chris to the safety of the sidewalk.

Somehow he knew when the light turned green without looking and they kept going.

Victor pulled a bagel out of his bag and split it with Chris. They munched on it as they read the notes.

Then they hit a crowd.

 

Yuuri lost sight of the book in the big crowd and found himself surrounded by dozens of books, newspapers, magazines, children’s books and – oh! the textbook at last!

 He followed it, determined not to let it out of his sight ever again. He wasn’t really aware of much outside the book after that.

 

He was almost home! Victor walked with his friend by his side, ignoring the world around him. The neighbour’s dog was outside as usual, growling at everyone who came in, but Victor didn’t pay him any attention. He went up a flight of stairs until he got to the landlady’s apartment.

Somewhere here was the doorbell. Ah! There it was!

He put his finger on the button and kept it there.

A woman ran out, all out of breath.

He knew without looking that it was Aunt Zoya, the landlady. All the students in the building called her “Aunt Zoya”, despite the fact that none of them were related to her. She was really short and didn’t have much patience for anyone. She was really old and she’d been the landlady for as long as anyone could remember. She always insisted on keeping the students’ keys when they were out, convinced that they would lose them as soon as they stepped outside.

She took Victor’s hand off the doorbell.

“Aunt Zoya, key please,” Victor said, holding out his hand. The words had come out without even a pause for thought.

“Don’t you have an exam today?” she demanded as she put the key into his palm.

“There are three more hours,” he answered. “Chris and I will study until then.”

The landlady muttered something, but Victor had no time to waste on her grumbling. He turned away and headed up to his apartment with his friend following by his side.

Once inside his apartment he set the book down on the table and they sat down together, still reading it intently.

He’d put the book down between three plates, which he loaded with the contents of his bag: one plate got two apples, the other – two sausages and the last – two sandwiches and a pastry. He got a little jar of mustard out of his bag (as he always said, mustard went amazingly well with everything) and a bottle of water.

Both students read on.

Victor reached out and picked up the sandwiches. He handed one to Chris and held out his own. “Mustard,” he said.

Chris coated the sandwich with mustard and Victor ate it.

Here came that passage again. He always struggled with remembering this part.

Victor narrowed his eyes and read it over several times. Could he recite it? Hopefully.

 _I’m still hungry_ , he thought somewhere in the back of his mind and reached out with his fork for a sausage. He held it out for Chris to put some mustard on it and bit into the sausage.

_And this rule right here…_

He flipped the page and reached for an apple. He set it down on his other side and reached for the other apple on the plate.

_What does that mean? Oh, ok! I think I understand this part. What does that say? Sometimes I can’t read my own writing!_

He bit into the apple and set it down.

_I know this bit. This bit is super easy._

The next part needed more concentration. He got to the end of the paragraph, picked up the apple and bit off another piece.

Two bites later the apple was done and he set it down on his other side.

Beside him Chris was fiddling with the plate and Victor put it away. Trust Chris to always get distracted by small things!

He reached for the pastry next, split it into two bits and handed one to his friend. For some reason when he put it into his mouth it tasted like mustard, but he didn’t think much of it.

It was really hot in the room.

Victor heard Chris pick up the bottle of water and stuck his glass so Chris would fill it. Two glasses of water didn’t help.

He fanned himself with his hand, brushed his hair out of his face, but nothing helped.

“It’s so hot,” he mumbled.

“M-hm,” his friend agreed.

“Don’t turn the page,” he ordered and didn’t stand up until he heard a grunt, promising him that his friend would do what he said.

Victor got up and went to the window. He drew the curtain aside and opened the balcony door.

A fresh summer breeze blew into the room, sweeping his hair out of his face. He closed his eyes and gave a happy sigh.

Then he walked back into the room, pulling his shirt off. His pants came off next and he sat down on the chair in his underwear, returning to the book in front of him and tossing his clothes over the back of the chair.

Beside him Chris got jittery. It wasn’t like him to be shy and Victor smiled as he said, “It’s too hot. Take your clothes off.”

 

Yuuri took the sandwich handed to him without thinking.

“Mustard,” someone ordered.

So he put mustard on their sandwich and then on his own, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

One page later ( _What does that mean? Oh, I think I understand that._ ) he reached out for a sausage with his fork. He put some mustard on it and stuck it in his mouth.

But all Yuuri got was an empty fork.

 _That’s odd_ , he thought somewhere in the back of his mind as he turned the fork over and over and then stuck it in his mouth again as if he thought the sausage would appear there by magic.

Still it had nothing.

Giving up on that, he reached for the apple and bit off a piece. He set it down, trying to concentrate on what the next paragraph was saying.

_What’s that word? Oh. Okay, that makes sense. This writing sure is neat._

He reached for the apple again. Was it his imagination or was there less of it this time?

_Doesn’t matter. Focus on the next part._

_Apple,_ he thought after a while and took another bite. There was barely anything left from it now.

_And this part? What does that mean?_

He reached for the apple again, but it wasn’t there. All his hand found was an empty plate. His fingers searched for the apple all around it, but all without luck.

And then someone put the plate away.

It was probably the same someone who handed him a pastry next. Yuuri added mustard to it and the other half held out to him without thinking and then swallowed the pastry, barely taking a bite.

What he needed now was some water. He reached for the bottle and poured some into a glass. He wasn’t sure how full it was, but he set the bottle down anyway and reached for the glass. It was further to the side than he thought. It was also empty.

So he filled it again. And again it was empty. He even upended it over his head to check. Nothing.

Oh well.

Yuuri drank straight from the bottle.

It was still really hot. He pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow and the back of his neck. That didn’t help.

“It’s so hot,” the owner of the book said.

“M-hm.”

“Don’t turn the page,” the owner ordered.

Yuuri went over the next part twice while someone behind him opened a curtain and then a door or a window.

A fresh breeze entered the room, but it was powerless to help him.

Yuuri fanned himself with his jacket.

The person next to him dropped into their seat. “It’s too hot. Take your clothes off,” they said.

“M-hm.” Yuuri rose to his feet, keeping his eyes fixed on the book. He pulled his jacket off, unbuttoned his shirt and removed his pants, taking care to fold everything carefully.

 

Yuuri didn’t notice his hair comb fall out of his pocket and onto the floor just like he didn’t notice the uneaten sausage and apple, or the two glasses on the table.

 

Still it was too warm. Victor lifted the book and headed for the couch in the corner. Chris followed him and they lay down side by side, eyes still fixed intently on the book.

Victor reached out and his hand felt around on the wall, searching for a little button. _Just a little… Ah! Right there!_

A small fan turned on and he felt himself relax. Now the temperature was just right.

The clock on the wall chimed and he raised his eyes to check the time.

11 am.

 

The clock chimed again

1 pm.

“Time to go,” the owner of the book said.

“M-hm,” Yuuri agreed.

They got up, got dressed and left the apartment, eyes still glued to the book.

Yuuri followed the book all the way back to the university until someone called his name and he turned at the sound. Seeing it was no one important, he turned back around, but the book was gone.

He sighed and glanced at his watch. It was almost time for his exam.

 

***

 

Yuuri stood in front of two drinks machines and pushed each of the buttons to fill up two glasses. He took one glass in each hand and knocked them together with an approving nod. He’d already downed four glasses and they didn’t help. This time he lowered his head and poured the water right over it.

“Yuuri!” a voice called out.

He put the glasses back into the machines and straightened up. Phichit was coming towards him, a book under his arm.

“How did you do?” he asked.

Yuuri held up a hand with all five fingers raised. He opened his mouth to tell his friend an interesting story when his eyes caught the figure coming out of the building.

An angel floated down the stairs of the main university building. Beautiful fair hair sparkled in the sunshine as he swung the bag in his arm. There was a heavenly smile on his face and Yuuri was prepared to swear that his feet didn’t touch the ground.

“Who is that flying over there?” he said in a half-whisper.

“Who?” Phichit turned to see who he was asking about. “Oh, that’s Victor from the other class.”

“Victor,” Yuuri repeated dreamily. “How come I never noticed him before?”

Phichit gave him a look and chuckled. “Do you want me to introduce you?”

Yuuri’s mind was too busy to understand the question. He watched Victor buy an ice cream from one of the ladies standing outside and then turn around and walk gracefully as he ate it. “What?”

“I said: do you want me to introduce you?” Phichit repeated and then, seeing what the answer would undoubtedly be called out, “Victor! Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Victor walked over to them, the big smile still on his face. “Hello, Phichit!”

“Did you pass the exam?” Phichit asked.

“Yep! Perfect score!”

Phichit nodded at Yuuri who suddenly remembered how messy his hair was, hunted around for his hair comb in his pocket, gave up and did his best to fix his hair with his hand. “I want to introduce you to my friend.”

“Victor,” he said, holding his hand out.

“Peter, I mean: Yuuri.” He held his hand out as Victor laughed. Yuuri mentally cursed himself. Couldn’t he get his own name right?

They shook hands. Victor’s felt very hard and big. Yuuri released it and a thud told him that he’d dropped his textbook, which he’d been holding instead of Victor’s hand.

Victor laughed and they both bent down to pick it up.

Yuuri knocked the ice cream out of Victor’s hand with his head and then jumped up to catch it before it hit the floor. “Here,” he said, handing it to Victor.

Victor laughed and Phichit joined in. “Don’t mind Yuuri,” Phichit said. “He always gets like that. Anyway, I need to go! I’ll catch you later!”

They waved him off and Victor invited Yuuri to take a walk with him.

Yuuri told Victor a long and very interesting story that for some reason included tossing his textbook, dropping it and then promising to bite bits of it off if it ever fell again. Victor laughed the whole time. It must’ve been a good story, then.

They got to the bus stop and Yuuri told Victor that no, no he was free the rest of the afternoon and it was really no trouble to walk him all the way home and that, really, he wanted to know more about Victor.

Victor told Yuuri that he lived far away from his parents, that his favourite pastime was skating and then got really excited when Yuuri said that he skated in his free time as well.

They took the bus to a different part of town. When they got off they rushed across the street as the cars sped all around them. Victor caught Yuuri by the hand and they laughed as they ran.

Once they could slow down Yuuri took in the identical apartment buildings with a curious look. “What a nice area,” he said, feeling as though something needed to be said, “can’t say I’ve been here before, though.”

Victor talked about St. Petersburg, his home town, and promised to take Yuuri there one day.

“Well, here we are,” he said when they finally got to his building. “I’m up there.” Victor pointed at one of the windows.

“Oh.” Yuuri’s face fell. The trip had been much too short for his liking, but what could he do? He had to go back.

 

Barbos the dog stood out in the sunshine, determined to guard his territory. He’d scared away most of the two-legs who wanted to invade his territory and chased a stray cat, but it didn’t make him feel any better about that two-legs who’d come in earlier.

He watched his surroundings, certain that he would see him again. Ah! There he is, coming with the two-legs who always gave him treats.

He barked loudly. “Stay away! Stupid stranger, stay away!” The two-legs smelled all wrong and he hated it.

The nice two-legs and the strange one stopped moving and backed away. Then they stood closer until the strange two-legs turned around and held up something delicious.

“Give it here!” he barked. “Mine!”

The two-legs tossed it and Barbos sniffed the piece of meat. It was full of little things that smelled wrong, but he ignored them and just ate everything around them. When he finished he raised his head in the hopes of getting more.

The nice two-legs made a strange sound.

The strange two-legs left and Barbos got into a comfortable waiting position in case he came back. He was prepared to wait all day, but he returned soon and dropped a cat on the ground.

And Barbos, forgetting all about his hate for the strange two-legs, bolted after the cat.

“I told you to stay out!”

 

It was a flawless plan, Yuuri told himself, but somehow he’d ended up inside Victor’s apartment building with the dog barking at him from outside the door and the cat on his shoulder.

“On the count of three open the door,” he told Victor, “and I’ll drop the cat.”

“Are you sure about this?” Victor asked.

Yuuri nodded and shouted, “One, two, three!” And lowered the cat as it sunk its claws into him.

The door opened and the dog ran straight for the cat.

A bang and crash followed from which Yuuri concluded that they found an apartment with an open door and made straight for it.

“Anyway,” Yuuri said, “I’ll go now and –” He backed away against the door and felt around for the handle.

It was so hard to tear his eyes away from Victor’s face, but he managed to do it.

“Yuuri!” Victor gasped, making him turn around. “There’s a hole in your pants!”

“What?”

Victor walked up to him and grinned. “Must’ve been that dog.”

“I don’t understand,” Yuuri complained, “I usually get along with dogs.”

“So do I,” Victor said and gave Yuuri a warm look. “It’s the neighbour’s dog, though. It hates _everybody_. It took me a week to get it to not try to bite me. I should’ve brought some treats or something. Sorry!”

“It’s not your fault,” Yuuri reassured him and opened the door.

Victor laughed. “You’re not going home like that are you? Come on. I’ll give you some thread and a needle.”

“Thanks!”

They walked up the stairs. Victor stopped at one of the doors and rang the doorbell.

An elderly woman who looked tired of the world walked out and gave them a disapproving look.

“Hello, Auntie,” Victor said. “Can I have my key, please?”

“How was your exam?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at both of them.

Yuuri caught the hole in his pants with one hand and did his best to keep facing the woman. Stupid dog!

“Good,” Victor replied, taking the key.

“And how did Chris do?” Auntie asked, nodding at Yuuri for some reason.

“I don’t know. I haven’t asked.” Victor turned away as Yuuri gave a polite bow and backed away towards the stairwell, much to Victor’s amusement.

Yuuri noticed the aunt shake her head before she closed the door and blushed.

 

When Yuuri entered Victor’s apartment he noticed how nice and neat it was. There was a pleasant smell in the room that reminded him of something. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it must’ve been good.

The apartment wasn’t that big: a room with a couch and a table, a small balcony, a kitchen and a bedroom hidden behind a closed door. Yuuri stared absent-mindedly at the table while Victor left to find his sewing kit. Someone, presumably Victor, sat at that table recently and ate something. He smiled at the leftovers: a sausage, an apple, a half-finished jar of mustard and an empty bottle.

Victor returned and tried to sew Yuuri’s pants for him, but Yuuri took the needle and thread and did himself. He held his big textbook under his chin as he did his best to sew the hole. It was super awkward to sew something he was currently wearing, but he wasn’t going to undress in front of a complete stranger! (No matter how beautiful that stranger was, his hindbrain added and he hated himself for the thought.)

“There,” he said, finishing and letting Victor cut the thread. “Thank you.” He returned the needle with a grateful smile.

They stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Yuuri knew he had to leave. He had to go home. He had more exams to study for, but he really wanted to stay.

“I… uh…” He threw a look at the table, looking around desperately for some sort of excuse to stick around. “I should probably go…”

His eye fell on the floor where a comb that looked just like his lay on the carpet. _That’s odd. No, wait, that’s not odd. It’s just a typical hair comb. Lots of people have those._ He stuck his hand in his pocket and realized that his was missing. _Maybe it fell out just now when I was sewing up that stupid hole. But the hole was nowhere near my pocket!_

He backed away towards the door. The comb was starting to really irritate him for some reason.

_Time to go home._

Victor gave him a lop-sided smile. “Do you want to stay, maybe? I… uh I don’t really have much to offer, but…”

Yuuri stopped near one of the flowers and its smell hit him straight in the face. Where had he smelled that before? And recently too!

“It’s really hot here, I know,” Victor went on. “I’ll open the door and it will be nice and breezy, you’ll see!” He walked over to the window, drew the curtain aside and opened the balcony door.

Why did those sounds feel familiar to Yuuri? He could almost anticipate them before they came.

Victor basked in the breeze and Yuuri stepped closer, pulled in by the other man. Then he turned to smile at Yuuri.

“Come here,” he said and walked over to the couch.

Yuuri sat down beside him.

The clock on the wall struck the hour, startling Yuuri and making him raise his eyes with a terrified look on his face.

“Are you alright?” Victor asked.

“I… uh… I just feel like…” _like I’ve been here before,_ he suddenly thought, but, no, it was too weird a thought. It wasn’t possible! “Um… do you ever go somewhere – somewhere you’ve never been in your life – and everything, the smells,” he threw a look at one of the plants, “and the sounds,” here he looked at the clock, “feels so familiar it’s as if you’ve been there before?”

“No,” Victor said, shaking his head.

“And then you wonder if you’ve been there without knowing it?” Yuuri pressed on.

Victor shook his head. “Never! I always know where I am and who is with me.”

“But I seem to have this odd feeling…” Yuuri mumbled. “It’s so odd, I know, but I feel like all this happened to me before.”

Victor grinned and reclined on the couch. “Maybe it’s the heat?” He reached out and clicked the button on the wall.

Yuuri stared at the fan. “No, I don’t think I’m imagining it.”

“Maybe…” Victor began thoughtfully, “maybe you’re a psychic and you just don’t know it.”

“What do you mean?” Yuuri asked.

He listened to Victor explain about people with psychic powers, how he watched a show on TV once about someone who could hypnotise people and make them do what they wanted, or they could see the future, or they could anticipate stuff around them, or… The list seemed to be endless and Victor just kept getting more and more enthusiastic about the whole thing.

“So you think I have psychic powers?” Yuuri asked. If anyone had any powers, he was sure it wasn’t him, but at the same time he didn’t have the heart to tell Victor that he didn’t believe his idea for a minute, not when he saw the way Victor’s eyes lit up as he talked about it.

“Maybe,” Victor said and the expression on his face made Yuuri wish desperately that he _did_ have some sort of powers, no matter how silly they were.

“How can we check?”

Victor shared his plan then. Yuuri would leave the room. Victor would write his wish down on a piece of paper and then hide the paper in his pocket and think his wish as hard as he could as Yuuri walked into the room. If Yuuri had psychic powers, he would know what the wish was and grant it.

Yuuri agreed and stepped out into the kitchen.

 _What if I don’t have any power?_ He panicked. _What then? What will Victor think of me then? No, no, focus! I can do this!_

“Come in!” Victor called out.

Yuuri walked back in. He stared into Victor’s eyes and tried to guess what it could be. Was it something on his right? He reached out with his hand. No. Maybe something on his left? He reached out with his other hand.

Victor’s eyes were fixed on him, not leaving Yuuri’s face.

And then Yuuri knew. He strode across the room, pulled his glasses off and kissed Victor’s cheek.

Too late he realized what he’d done and backed away. “S-sor –” He bit back his apology. “Did I get it right?”

“Almost,” Victor whispered.

Yuuri stared down, watching Victor tear a piece of paper up into tiny pieces. When he raised his eyes he saw the big radiant smile on Victor’s face.

“Should I try again?” Yuuri suggested as his heart beat faster in his chest. _Almost? What was the real wish, then?_

The clock struck and they both turned to look at the time.

Yuuri’s heart fell. “I need to go home.”

Victor jumped to his feet and caught him by the arms. “When will I see you again?” he whispered.

It was getting dark in the room and for some reason this was making Yuuri’s heart beat faster. “Tomorrow?” he suggested, not daring to hope for a “yes”.

“I can’t,” Victor whispered back. “There’s an exam the day after tomorrow and I’ll spend the whole day studying.”

“Then the day after?” Yuuri whispered.

Victor leaned forward and pressed his lips against Yuuri’s. “The day after,” he agreed once he pulled away.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based on an old soviet movie, so it's also set in soviet Russia. (Hence the exams being the kind where you stand in front of the professor and answer their questions and you get your grade right away.) I mostly wrote this as a writing exercise.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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